Video Link:https://faculti.net/elder-mediation-an-emerging-field-of-practice
DOI Link:https://doi.org/10.64240/971468c1ea

Recently elder mediation was approved by the Australian Mediation and Dispute Resolution Standards Board (AMDRAS) as a Specialisation

What is Elder Mediation?
Elder mediation is a relatively new, specialised approach to decision-making in Australia and New Zealand. It requires mediators to rethink the way they handle interventions involving older adults and to be mindful of older adults’ rights, including their right to participate in decision-making about their lives, directly or indirectly, and with or without capacity.

AMDRAS Elder Mediation Specialisation

Elder Mediation Training Flyer

Friday, 29 August 2025 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm Hobart Time | Online

Flyer:

LGBTIQA+ older people are more likely to have experienced systemic discrimination and trauma in their lives, having lived during times when their very existence was regarded as ‘wrong’ in the eyes of the law, medicine and religion, and something that could and should be ‘fixed’. This led to the need to hide when accessing services, and in society more broadly.

This webinar will support your understanding of that experience by highlighting some key moments in LGBTIQA+ history in Australia and internationally. You will also leave with an understanding of the identities and experiences that fall within the LGBTIQA+ umbrella. Finally, you will be provided with some tools to increase the accessibility and inclusiveness of your services, including through your language and ways you can signal safety.

Elder Mediation QandA Final March 2024

The Elder Mediation Australasian Network (EMAN) Board and Resolution Institute Facilitative Elder Mediation Sub-Committee have put in a submission to the Mediation Standards Board for elder mediation to be considered as a new specialisation. Our proposal is that to be recognised as an elder mediator should require mediators to complete 30 hours of specialised elder mediation training and then the additional certification tasks required by the Elder Mediation International Network (EMIN). To this end, we have negotiated with the EMIN Board to make it easier for those who complete the elder mediation training to then complete the EMIN certification (basic or advanced), which we consider to be the ‘gold standard’.

As an outcome, EMIN has developed a special pilot project for mediators in Australia and New Zealand from February 2024 to January 2026 – see the details in the attached document EMIN Pilot Project Feb 2024 to Jan 2026. The EMIN website has now been set up to respond to people who want to apply to be an EMIN Certified Elder Mediator via the links in this attached document.

This EMIN pilot project offers substantially reduced costs and additional support for mediators who have completed (or plan to complete) 30 hours of elder mediation training provided by an EMIN Certified Elder Mediator (Advanced) trainer from 2015 to January 2026. In addition, the knowledge hours specified by EMIN to be completed can now be counted from 2015 onwards.

If you have completed two elder mediation workshops with an EMIN certified (Advanced) trainer – Dale Bagshaw &/or Judy Mccann-Beranger – you should have a credit of 40 hours and therefore will be eligible to register with EMIN for certification.

Those who have only completed 20 hours of elder mediation training to date will be able to enrol in a 10 hour online, up-skilling workshop with Dale Bagshaw to meet the 30-hour requirement (possibly 2 hours a week x 5 weeks – negotiable).

If you are wanting to be EMIN certified and need to do the 10-hour workshop, please notify me by email by January 31, 2024, so I can make the necessary arrangements.

If you have not completed any training and wish to enrol is a 30 hour online training program this year, please notify me by email by January 31, 2024, so I can make the necessary arrangements.

Warm regards

https://open.spotify.com/episode/01TdF9jncgMNUDWvFnFAvq?si=29e3ed26d0e641d3&nd=1

Episode Description

Dr Dale Bagshaw is the founder and Chair of EMAN, a nationally and internationally accredited mediator and an academic who leads the work in the elder mediation and ageing sectors. Her work has been dedicated to all aspects of alternative dispute resolution in the area of ageing for many years. Dale combines her extensive academic work and expertise with a love of Elder Mediation and a well-recognised desire to educate and train others to work in this sector. Her academic background enables her to understand the underlying challenges that face practitioners of any profile who decide to work with ageing issues and older population. Dale is a certified Elder Mediator (Advanced) with the Elder Mediation International Network (EMIN) and a member of the EMIN Board and Certification Committee.  Over the past few years, Dale has been awarded a number of awards, to mention a few – in 2019, she was a recipient of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award, which is presented annually in the US, for her international leadership;  in 2014, the Michael Klug Award by the Board of LEADR for her innovation and national leadership in the dispute resolution field; in 2015 was awarded the Resolution Institute’s Practitioner Award for development and mentoring of dispute resolution practitioners, and in 2013, EMIN’s Sherren Award for her international contributions and leadership in the ageing sector.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0LAufaZ3aVHLdeWFyth1sC?si=cd4c0896e8c94f28&nd=1

Episode Description

This is the link to dropbox version
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j06w00u82bioda6/DALE%20BAGSHAW%20SESSION%2017%20ELDER%20MEDIATION.mp4?dl=0

Reference: Presentation by Professor Dale Bagshaw at the Australian Institute of Family Studies 2022 Conference, Putting Families at the Centre, June 15-17, 2022.

ADRAC gratefully acknowledges the suggestions and input of Professor Dale Bagshaw who kindly reviewed this paper.

At present, all DR processes are available to any member of the community, regardless of age. This article concentrates on the use of what is called Elder Mediation for disputes involving older people because it is the most widely used DR process in this context.

http://www.adrac.org.au/adr-mapping/dr-older-people-and-elder-mediation 

Rae Kaspiew, Rachel Carson and Helen Rhoades, Research Report No. 35 — February 2016.           https://aifs.gov.au/publications/elder-abuse                   This Report is now published on the Australian Institute of Family Studies website and provides an overview of elder abuse in Australia – including its characteristics, context, and prevention.

The South Australian Office for the Ageing (OFTA) has developed a public awareness campaign on safeguarding the rights of older South Australians and elder abuse. The campaign aims to safeguard older people against elder abuse and to help the South Australian community to recognise the signs and to take action if they suspect abuse is occurring.

Website address: www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/stopelderabuse

Family Mediation and Counselling Victoria and Benetas have launched a Seniors Mediation Program. Seniors Mediation is a unique type of mediation for elderly people and their families that uses a non-adversarial approach to resolving conflict or making important decisions. Contact: andrea.mcdougall@benetas.com.au

Seniors Victoria (page 3) has provided good coverage of research into elder mediation as a potential strategy to protect older people from financial abuse by their adult children – http://www.thesenior.com.au/News/Digital-Paper/Victoria

Here is a link to the Older People Clinical Network webpage where you will find the draft SA Health Services Plan for People with Dementia (and Delirium). The Older People Clinical Network welcomes any comments your may have on the plan.

http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/health+reform/clinical+networks/older+people+clinical+network